Abstract Submission Instructions

INSTITUTIONS

• Please enter the institutions for all authors.
• Each institution should only be listed once, even if more than one author has the same institution.
• You will match institutions to authors in the authors section below.
• Adhere to formatting instructions when entering affiliations.
  • Only 2 levels of author affiliation are allowed (e.g., Department, Institution).
  • Capitalize only the first letter of each place name.
• Do not use abbreviations or acronyms that will be unfamiliar to most readers. Abbreviations such as USDA are acceptable, as these are widely recognized. Abbreviations such as UMN or TAMU are not widely recognized and should be avoided.
  • EXAMPLE: “Dept. of Microbiology, Immunology and Pathology, Colorado State University”.

AUTHORS

• Authors should be listed in the order they should appear in the abstract.
• The institution numbers in the drop-down boxes located in the first and second institution columns should be selected to match the appropriate number of the institution for that author entered above.
• Provide ONLY the initials for given name(s) (i.e., first and middle names).
• Provide the full Last Name and Email for ALL authors.
  • Do not use all capital letters.
• A single author must be designated as the Presenter, and can be listed in any position in the list of authors.

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PREFERRED PRESENTATION FORMAT (ORAL vs. POSTER):

• Your preference will be considered, but the organizers determine the final assignment of presentation format and scheduling.
• One presenter may only submit up to two abstracts for consideration as oral presentations. There is no limit for the number of abstracts as a co-author (i.e., non-presenter) or poster presentations.
• Only abstracts describing completed work with distinct results and conclusions will be considered for oral presentations.
• If there is any uncertainty about the ability of a presenter to be onsite in Chicago during the conference, please choose Poster.

SECTION PREFERENCE:

• Please choose from either Featured Speaker or General Abstract
  • Featured speakers are reserved for the abstracts of keynote or invited symposia speakers.
• STUDENTS: Please review the requirements and eligibility for research award competitions, the Three-Minute Thesis (3MT) competition, and the awards information below.
  • If you’re entering a research award competition, select “General Abstract” and then the competition you’re entering via the dropdown selection at the bottom of the page under “If you are a trainee entering a competition, please choose which award you want to compete in. Note that CRWAD Post Doc Award requires document upload in the next steps.”
  • If you’re entering the 3MT, your entry must now be submitted via our standalone online entry form by 11:59 p.m. CT on October 2, 2026, and be submitted separately to be considered for a general abstract slot. Any abstract you submit through the 3MT® entry form applies ONLY to 3MT consideration and will not be reviewed as a general abstract at CRWAD2027.
  • You’re welcome to present the same data for 3MT and as a general abstract, but each requires its own separate submission, and the two abstracts should read differently because the expectations differ:
    • A general abstract is a concise scientific summary that emphasizes the study’s background, objectives, methods, results, and conclusions.
    • A 3MT® abstract supports a presentation that explains your research to a broad, non-specialist audience. Rather than focusing on methodological detail, it emphasizes the research problem, why it matters, your key findings, and the potential impact, all in clear, accessible language.
  • If you want your work considered both ways, submit a general abstract through the standard CRWAD2027 abstract process and a separate 3MT® abstract through the standalone entry form, both before 11:59 p.m. on October 2, 2026.

USDA PROJECT DIRECTOR REQUIREMENT:

• If this presentation is being made to fulfill requirements for a Project Director of USDA-NIFA-funded research, indicate the award number. This information is shared with USDA-NIFA. Contact the PI or research sponsor if you are unsure.

TOPIC AREAS:

• Select the theme, species, and disease (if relevant) that best describe/match the focus of this abstract.
• Please note that we have a new abstract theme: Systems Thinking

US VISA REQUIRED:

• Indicate if the presenter will require a visitor’s Visa or other travel permit to make this presentation in It is the responsibility of speakers to secure travel documents required for attending CRWAD.

STUDENT & POST-DOCTORAL RESEARCHER AWARDS and 3MT (OPTIONAL):

• Please review the requirements and eligibility for research award competitions and the Three-Minute Thesis (3MT) competition
• New this year! Only research award competitions—not the 3MT—are entered by submitting an abstract.
• Please review the website for the research awards that require additional materials to be submitted. Those materials can be attached to your abstract in the abstract submission portal after the body of the abstract is submitted.
• Students can submit more than one abstract for presentation at CRWAD, but only one abstract can be entered into one research competition per person.
• Students entering research awards competitions may also submit entries for the CRWAD 3MT®Competition through our standalone online entry form by 11:59 p.m. CT on October 2, 2026.
• You’re welcome to present the same data for 3MT and as a general abstract, but each requires its own separate submission, and the two abstracts should read differently because the expectations differ:
  • A general abstract is a concise scientific summary that emphasizes the study’s background, objectives, methods, results, and conclusions.
  • A 3MT® abstract supports a presentation that explains your research to a broad, non-specialist audience. Rather than focusing on methodological detail, it emphasizes the research problem, why it matters, your key findings, and the potential impact, all in clear, accessible language.
• If you want your work considered for both 3MT and as a general abstract, submit a general abstract through the standard CRWAD2027 abstract process and a separate 3MT® abstract through the standalone entry form, both before 11:59 p.m. on October 2, 2026.
• STUDENTS: We ask that your advisor submit a $50 entry for each 3MT presentation, if selected. Please ensure that you have checked with your advisor about this fee before submitting your 3MT entry.

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You will be asked to select the 1 theme, the species, and, if relevant, the disease that best describes the content of the abstract. Below are the options provided:

• THEME (Select 1)
  • “Omics”
  • Antimicrobial Use
  • Aquaculture
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Bacteriology
  • Biosecurity and infection control
  • Diagnostic testing
  • Disease Pathogenesis
  • Economics & policy
  • Epidemiology
  • General health and physiology
  • Immunology
  • Microbiome
  • One health/public health
  • Parasitology
  • Pharmacology/toxicology
  • Preventive medicine
  • Statistical Methods & Mathematical Modeling
  • Systems Thinking
  • Vaccinology
  • Virology
  • Other

• SPECIES (Select 1)
  • aquaculture species
  • bees/other insects/arachnids
  • bison
  • bovine – beef
  • bovine – dairy
  • camelids
  • canine
  • cell lines/tissue culture
  • equine
  • exotic pets
  • feline
  • humans
  • lab animal
  • poultry/avian
  • small ruminants
  • swine
  • water buffalo
  • wildlife
  • zoo animals

• DISEASE if applicable (optional)
  • African Swine Fever
  • Bovine Respiratory Disease
  • brucellosis
  • coronaviruses (other than
  • COVID)
  • Foot and Mouth Disease
  • fungal diseases
  • influenza
  • Johne’s disease
  • mastitis
  • mycobacterium
  • mycoplasma
  • pathogenic E. coli
  • PRRS
  • salmonella
  • SARS-CoV-2 (COVID)
  • streptococcus
  • tick-borne diseases

Please note: Abstracts not conforming to the formatting requirements will be returned to the authors before being considered for acceptance.

Abstract Title:

• Titles should be succinct, informative, and accurately reflect the content of your poster or oral presentation.
  • EXAMPLE: “Detecting multiple Clostridium perfringens toxin types from a single clinical specimen using multiplex qPCR”
• Titles should not exceed 120 characters, including spaces
• Title text should use sentence case, capitalizing only the first word, proper nouns, and abbreviations.
• Do not capitalize entire words unless they are accepted abbreviations.
  • EXAMPLE: It is acceptable to capitalize the abbreviation for DNA.
  • EXAMPLE: Do not capitalize the word PROTEIN.
• Use standard convention for capitalization of taxonomic names.
  • EXAMPLE: “Salmonella enterica”
• Do not use quotation marks in the title.
• Do not add a period or space after the last word in the title.

Abstract Body:

• CRWAD no longer requires a structured abstract
• Please include a concise, unstructured abstract that summarizes the main purpose, key findings, relevant methods, conclusions, and future directions. The abstract should be self-contained. When data is analyzed, a description of the statistical methods used is required.
• The abstract body is limited to 2500 characters, including spaces.
• Special formatting is permitted in the Abstract Body, including italics, bold, special characters, superscripts, and subscripts.
• If you are pasting the text from a word processor, confirm that any symbols used are displayed properly.
• Follow the capitalization rules previously listed for abstract titles above.
• Use capitalization and italics according to standard conventions for taxonomic names.

Acknowledgements/Research Sponsorship:

• Enter sponsorship acknowledgments exactly as you want them printed in the proceedings (500 characters maximum).
• STUDENTS: Please ensure that you have checked with your project’s Principal Investigator (PI) about this statement’s accuracy before submitting your abstract.

Keywords:

• You will be able to add up to six keywords per abstract.
• A comma (,) should separate keywords.

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Awards

• Please review the requirements and eligibility for research award competitions, including additional materials.
• If the award you intend to enter requires the submission of additional documents, these must be attached here.
• Papers must be submitted as either Adobe PDF, PostScript, Microsoft Word, Microsoft PowerPoint, or Plain Text. Please combine all documents of the same file type into one document before attaching. If you attempt to load 2 documents of the same file type, the first one will be overwritten by the second one.
• If you don’t have any documents you need to upload, select “Proceed to next page without uploading.”

There are a limited number of spots available for oral presentations and posters.

• Abstracts must meet all formatting requirements, or they will not be considered for presentation at CRWAD.
• If there is any uncertainty about the presenter’s ability to attend CRWAD, e.g., because of the need to secure a Visa or potential scheduling conflicts, you are strongly encouraged to submit your abstract for presentation as a poster. There are far fewer problems if you have to withdraw a poster presentation than if you are unable to present an oral presentation.
• Abstracts will be withdrawn from the schedule and abstract book if presenters do not adhere to requirements for formatting, revisions, and submission of required materials.

The content of abstracts will be evaluated considering the following criteria (all aspects are not required, per se, but these factors will be considered):

• Originality of idea and demonstrated innovation.
• Degree of practical knowledge transferability or practical implications: Abstract demonstrates a high degree of applicability to research, practice, animal production, or policy.
• Evidence and objectivity: The abstract builds on the existing knowledge base, is based on sound methodology, and/or has a clear evaluation component. Results can be generalized to a range of populations.
• Clarity and cohesiveness: The abstract reflects a sound argument and logical flow. It thoroughly explains the study’s elements, outcomes, and importance. Key messages are clearly articulated. Information is clearly presented in a style appropriate for a broad audience. The abstract is free of spelling and grammatical errors.